I want to become a dancer, a policeman, a doctor, a teacher.
These were maybe the answers that I gave to people when they would ask me about what profession I would choose when I would grow up. But today, I get my answer…I want to be a child again. Why? Because during my childhood, my heart was at peace and life was about truly being myself with no pretense. How beautiful and soothing is simplicity. How good is being yourself, non-judgmental and harmless. How good, is it to be innocent just like those children at the ELI education center!
When I watch the children playing with each other, fighting over colored pencils, erasers or watercolors or saying things which appear to be silly to us, I am thrown back down memory lane and would remember the time when I was like them. Spending one hour with these students is not only a way for me to keep my childhood alive but is also a way for me to know them. Those children are spontaneous, reserved, joyful now and sad later, friendly, competent, naïve, talkative and quiet. They are an almost unpredictable array of discoveries, emotions, and levels of energy. They are unique and complex and thus often difficult to comprehend. After meeting them, I realized that every child has his own specialty, his own potential, his own likings and his own pace. Five fingers make a fist and eventually every child has his own ability to lift the weight that life gives him Some have excellent understanding and some take time to do or understand a classwork given to them. We just need to give them some time and patience, and they do much better than we had expected.
After the class ends, you can see their cheeky smiles and cuddles when you they play Ki passer la:
Ki passer la ?, Marchant Diler
Ki diler? , diler cahier
Ki cahier? Cahier devoir
Ki devoir? Devoir Anglais
Ki Anglais? Anglais Potiss
Ki Potiss? Potiss Zasar
Ki Zasar? Zasar Mangue
Their Childhood is a gift that I get to enjoy as a volunteer at the Experiential Learning Initiative ( ELI ) Corps project. These children give us this truly wonderful gift of living through and experiencing childhood through their eyes and this is what makes us who we are and teaches us the whole essence of life.
Nushrina Teelhawood